Amoeba Music

Big Sigh is very beautiful...and as you can probably guess from the title, very sad. Marika Hackman has been through the wringer for these songs. The grandiosity and strange beauty of grief interplay with the relief and release of reaching the end. The album is powered by these transmutations. These songs may be propelled by pain but they never sink beneath the waves; there's a transcendent, awe-inspiring quality to Big Sigh that makes it an incredibly powerful, emotionally delicate, lovely listen. More

On Flood , Hippo Campus gets vulnerable and introspective. The songwriting is as tight as ever, with undeniably catchy choruses, layered compositions, and thoughtful lyrics. The band had originally intended to release a very different album but had ultimately decided the songs were too slick, without enough soul. So, back to the lab they went, to take a long hard look at life's more challenging moments, compelled by the recent death of a close friend. Affecting and irresistible, Flood is what they came up with when the band decided to go internal and urgent, and it's a testament to their bravery as artists and their skill as songwriters. More

Flow Critical Lucidity is some of Thurston Moore's most moving work in recent memory. "The Diver" is hypnotic and elegiac, an undercurrent of beautiful melancholy unfurling as the song progresses. "Sans Limites" finds Moore collaborating with Laetitia Sadier on a driving, nostalgia-tinged dream of a song. Flow Critical Lucidity is an all encompassing listen, the type of album you can get lost in without noticing the fading daylight. This is some of Moore's best. More

Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall deliver another stunner of an album as The WAEVE. City Lights is a tribute to the grit and glamour of city life, a thesis that works well with the pair's fuzzed out, swirling, potent blend of shoegaze and post-punk. The duo trades off vocals, the songs building in intensity as they crank up the tension through angst-ridden guitars and dreamy soundscapes. The songs move from fierce and abrasive to hazy and romantic, creating a listening experience that mirrors the excitement and the edge of late downtown nights. More

The legendary Manu Chao is back with his first album in seventeen years. Viva Tu is a joyful, eclectic affair, with the artist singing in Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English over lush, lovely globally-inspired melodies. The songs are inspired by Chao's experiences traveling and by the everyday lives of ordinary people. Willie Nelson and French singer Laeti both contribute memorable turns on "Heaven's Bad Day" and "Tu Te Vas" respectively. An upbeat, dynamic, life-affirming listen from one of the best. More

Will Anything Happen , the sole release from Scottish indie darlings The Shop Assistants, got a new coat of paint, so to speak. First, they remastered the original 1986 album. Next, they piled on the extras, such as B-Sides and Demos, Studio Outtakes, and 11 live tracks from 1987. Time has aged this album like a fine malt, with their singular blend of indie pop with hues of punk, new wave, and rock with an ethereal, dream-poppy-Cocteau-Twinsy thread throughout. Perhaps something would have happened had The Shop Assistants stuck together, but instead we have the ahead-of-its time Will Anything Happen as their musical star gone supernova. More

Back with their first album in six years, pop-punk idols The Story So Far have reemerged different but the same. I Want To Disappear marks the departure of founding bassist Kelen Capener, with drummer Ryan Torf handling bass duties on the album. No longer twenty-somethings, this is an older, wiser band, but the potency is still in abundance, and it's evident on high-energy bangers like "Big Blind" and "Watch You Go," while the aforementioned maturity is no more apparent than on the titular album closer, "I Want To Disappear," a lush acoustic ballad sent straight from the heart. More

California metalcore heavy-hitters The Ghost Inside return with their 6th album, Searching For Solace . Tackling personal, weighty subjects such as loss and mourning, mental health, and the harrowing time many of us went through during the COVID quarantine. Singer Jonathan Vigil recently told Kerrang , "I think we've levelled-up, elevated, and found a more mature sound for the band." From lead single "Earn It," to crushing anthems like "Death Grip" and "Wash It Away," The Ghost Inside pours out their heart and soul into a slab of chiseled metal(core). More

Punk rock icons The Descendents may have released Milo Goes to College in 1982, but after 1987's All , singer Milo Auckerman actually went to college for biochemistry. Everything Sucks marked his return to the band, who would then go dormant again until 2004. Returning with a more streamlined sound and glossier coat of paint, Everything Sucks was met with mixed reactions at the time, but has been well-embraced over the years, marking this as a '90s pop-punk classic. More

After making his mark on certified hits with Dr. Dre, the D-O-Double-G dropped a bomb on the rap world in 1993, and the rest is history. One of the top rap albums of the '90s, Doggystyle gave us classics like "Gin and Juice," "Who Am I (What's My Name)?," and "Murder Was The Case, and this reissue also features the addition of the track "Gz Up, Hoes Down" for the first time since 1993. This 2LP 30th Anniversary Edition on clear vinyl is a must-have for the casual fan or hip-hop collector. More

Innovative and dizzyingly imaginative, In Waves finds Jamie xx gleefully fusing garage, house, and disco into a non-stop, hands-in-the-air celebration of dance music. Listening to this album reminds you of what it's like to feel at your most alive on the dancefloor: the euphoria of heavy basslines and a shared community vibe, the underlying darkness of temporality. Guest appearances from The Avalanches, Robyn, his bandmates from The XX Romy and Oliver Sim, Honey Dijon, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier, Panda Bear, and Oona Doherty add to the lightning bolt excitement of the mix. In Waves will leave you longing for the exhilaration of underground rave culture. More

On their latest, Bright Eyes serves up a collection of tracks imbued with the fervor and heartache of their career-making earlier releases — with the experience and insight of a band who's now three decades into the game. The engrossing, introspective Five Dice, All Threes gives fans everything they love about the band: rollicking melodies with an underlying intensity that feels like it could careen off the road at any moment, all held together by Conor Oberst's no holds barred approach to life in all its beauty and bewilderment. Oberst wrote several of the songs with friend Alex Orange Drink (The So So Glos) and invited Cat Power and Matt Berninger (The National) to make stellar guest appearances. The result is a collaborative approach that makes Bright Eyes sound somehow even more Bright Eyes, in the best possible way. More

Timeless and just plain excellent, Lady Blackbird's Slang Spirituals feels like a classic. Written while on the road touring behind Lady Blackbird's Black Acid Soul , these songs are so brilliant and bold they seem to touch on the sacred. This is an album to luxuriate in, with simmering intros, twinkling melodies, and soaring finales. Lady Blackbird's voice calls to mind legends like Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday, her music inspired by the sounds of the golden age of R&B, jazz, and rock 'n' roll. Lady Blackbird is a star, to be sure. More

Suki Waterhouse's Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is a dream of an album. The multi-talented Waterhouse (as referenced in the song title "Model, Actress, Whatever") proves once again that she is a musical force to be reckoned with on this pastel-hued garage rock collection informed by elements of post-punk, '60s rock 'n' roll, and moody indie pop. Recorded in the last two months of her pregnancy, Waterhouse named the album after a particularly colorful spider (with a particularly ridiculous moniker) that she saw as a gritty, fabulous, and amusing metaphor for metamorphosis. It'll all make sense once you take a listen — these songs are sparkling and vivacious, with a relatable, droll world view. More

The soundtrack to the animated musical comedy series is now available in one album, featuring music performed by Erika Henningsen (Charlie Morningstar), Jeremy Jordan (Lucifer Morningstar), Stephanie Beatriz (Vaggie), Alex Brightman (Adam), and more. Highlights include "Hell is Forever," which contrasts the bubbly charm of a Disney number with rock/pop energy, the slinky dance-pop track "Poison," cabaret number "Hell's Great Dad," and many more. Soaring vocals, catchy hooks, and hilarious, profanity-laden lyrics abound here, making this a soundtrack for fans of musicals in general as well as fans of the show. More

The third studio album by British singer/songwriter Nilüfer Yanya is characteristically eclectic and interesting. "Like I Say (I Runaway)" has a shuffling, toe-tapping groove and grungy guitar that calls to mind the Smashing Pumpkins, albeit a more cosmopolitan version. "Method Actor" offers a similarly intriguing arrangement with a stronger hook in the chorus. "Call It Love" is gently swooning without being sleepy, Yanya's hushed, deep vocals casting a strong spell. The overall blend of global grooves, indie rock subtlety, and heavy, distorted guitar is fascinating and unique. More

The soulful British band Tindersticks follows up its soundtrack for Stars at Noon with a new album, Soft Tissue . Gentle and melancholy, the album offers introspective lyrics and plenty of atmosphere. "New World" kicks off with a blast of horns before sinking into a hypnotic downtempo groove. "Always a Stranger" is a real highlight, contrasting a captivating rhythm with singer Stuart Staples' floating vocals, augmented by horns and strings. More

New York's "Popular" alt-rockers Nada Surf are back with their 10th studio album, Moon Mirror . Their first release on New West Records, the Surfers retain their original lineup of Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca and Ira Elliot, just as it's been since 1992. Songs such as "In Front Of Me Now" are addictively catchy, with big production and bigger harmonies, and flourishes of Cars-like keyboards. Like that tree you planted 30 years ago, this is Nada Surf in full bloom, bigger and more beautiful than you remembered it since the last time you saw it. More

Former Old Crow Medicine Show singer/guitarist Willie Watson forges a new path with his debut self-titled solo album. Among those backing him up is renowned Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, and Gabe Witcher and Paul Klowert of the Punch Brothers. It's Watson's uniquely Dylanesque vocals that shine through, no more so than on "Real Love," a perfect, heartfelt country love song written for Watson's wife Mindy. More

Noise rock stalwarts The Jesus Lizard make a triumphant return with Rack , their first studio album in 26 years. Vocalist David Yow leads the charge, his frenzied energy being supported by hard-driving rhythms and guitar riff upon riff. This is very much the Jesus Lizard of today, with only one track, "Lord Godiva," having been written back in the '90s. It's time to celebrate the rapture, for Jesus (Lizard) has risen! More